III Olympic Winter Games

Lake Placid, USA
4–15 february 1932

The third Winter Olympics, in 1932, were held in Lake Placid, New York State, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. Faced with major obstacles raising money in the midst of a depression, the president of the organizing committee, Dr. Godfrey Dewey, donated land owned by his family to be used for construction of a bobsleigh run. Sonja Henie defended her figure skating title, as did the French pair of Andree and Pierre Brunet. However Gillis Grafstrom was thwarted in his attempt at winning a fourth gold medal, placing second behind Austrian Karl Schafer. Billy Fiske of the United States won a second gold medal in the four-man bobsleigh. One member of Fiske's team was Eddie Eagan, who had won the light-heavyweight boxing championship at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Eagan remains the only person in Olympic history to earn gold medals in both Summer and Winter sports.

17 NOCs (Nations)
252 athletes (21 women, 231 men)
14 events